Mahavira - Philosophy

Philosophy

Mahavira's philosophy has eight cardinal principals – three metaphysical and five ethical. The objective is to elevate the quality of life.

Mahavira preached that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage to karmic atoms accumulated by good or bad deeds. In a state of karmic delusion, the individual seeks temporary and illusory pleasure in material possessions, which are the root causes of self-centered violent thoughts and deeds as well as anger, hatred, greed, and other vices. These result in further accumulation of karma.

To liberate one's self, Mahavira taught the necessity of right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-gyana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra'). At the heart of right conduct for Jains lie the five great vows:

• Nonviolence (Ahimsa) – to cause no harm to any living being;
• Truthfulness (Satya) – to speak the harmless truth only;
• Non-stealing (Asteya) – to take nothing not properly given;
• Chastity (Bramacharya) – to indulge in no sensual pleasure;
• Non-possession/Non-attachment (Aparigraha) – to detach completely from people, places, and material things.

These vows cannot be fully implemented without accepting the philosophy of non-absolutism (anekantavada) and the theory of relativity (syādvāda, also translated "qualified prediction"). Monks and nuns adhere strictly to these vows, while the laypeople observe them as best they can.

Mahavira taught that men and women are spiritual equals and that both may renounce the world in search of moksha or ultimate happiness.

Mahavira attracted people from all walks of life, rich and poor, men and women, touchable and untouchable. He organized his followers into a fourfold order; monk (sādhu), nun (sādhvī), layman (Śrāvaka), and laywoman (Śrāvikā). This order is known as Chaturvidh Jain Sangha.

Mahavira's sermons were preserved orally by his immediate disciples known as Ganadharas in the Jain Agamas. Through time many Agama Sutras have been lost, destroyed, or modified. About one thousand years after Mahavira's time the Agama Sutras were recorded on palm leaf paper. Svetambaras accept these sutras as authentic teachings while Digambaras use them as a reference.

Jainism existed before Mahavira, and his teachings were based on those of his predecessors. Thus Mahavira was a reformer and propagator of an existing religion, rather than the founder of a new faith. He followed the well established creed of his predecessor Tirthankara Parshva. However, Mahavira did reorganize the philosophical tenets of Jainism to correspond to his times.

A few centuries after Mahavira's Nirvana, the religious order grew more and more complex. There were schisms on minor points, although they did not affect Mahavira's original doctrines. Later generations saw the introduction of rituals and complexities that some criticize as placing Mahavira and other Tirthankaras on the throne similar to those of Hindu deities.